Ask Mr. Answer Person: "What was that really big plane that flew over Freeport?" (Part Two)

A C-130 transport plane

Earlier Mr. Answer Person posted a question from Terry: Do you or any of your readers happen to know why a large jet flew very low over Decorah this afternoon (Friday) between 1:00 and 1:30? It came from the east going west and flew over Freeport and then over the very northern part of Decorah.

Mr. Answer Person has gotten help from several readers and now can at least answer what the plane was—although perhaps not why it was in the Decorah area.

Mr. Answer Person says: "That plane you saw was a C-130 transport plane used by the military.  Several readers also spotted and identified the plane and the Decorah airport heard radio transmissions identifying the plane as a C-130.  As several readers noted, the C-130 has four propeller engines and is commonly used to carry cargo.

But since it was a military plane, it's difficult to get an answer of what it was doing in the area.  Two plausible answers have come forward, both involving Saturday's funeral for PFC Christopher Alexander Horns, killed while on deployment in Afghanistan.  The first possibility is that the plane was carrying's body to the La Crosse airport, from which it was driven to Calmar for the funeral.  The second possibility is that the plane was doing reconnaissance for the visit of a two-star general on Saturday for the funeral, since the general landed in a plane at Decorah.  Either way, it seems most likely that the appearance of the C-130 was in some way related to Saturday's funeral.for PFC Christopher Alexander Horns.